The translanguaging practices of expert Indian teachers of English and their learners

Figures & data

Table 1. Participants’ experience, markers of expertise and teaching contexts.

Name^a	Years teaching	Potential expertise markers	Grades taught	Context; school type^b	Learner SES^c	MEL^d
Vinay	16	MA in English; international scholarship award; state teacher educator; active CPD; TA participant; presenter at national conferences.	7–10	Telangana, rural; small government school	99% disadv.	Telugu
Dipika	24	MA in English; state teacher educator; active CPD; TA participant; presenter at national conferences.	8–10	Maharashtra, urban; large government-aided school	64% disadv.	Hindi
Raju	13	MA in English; state teacher educator; above average student achievement; active CPD; TA participant.	6–10	Telangana, rural; small government school	99% disadv.	Telugu
Manjusha	25	MA in English; above average student achievement; state teacher educator; curriculum advisor; active CPD; TA participant; presenter at national conferences.	8–12	Maharashtra, semi-urban; large government-aided school	84% disadv.	Hindi
Shekhar	11	MA in English; state teacher educator; receipt of teacher awards; active CPD; TA participant; presenter at national conferences.	9–10	Maharashtra, rural; large government-aided school	99% disadv.	Marathi
Kuheli	25	MA in English; above average student achievement; state teacher educator; international scholarship award; active CPD; TA participant; presenter at international conferences; multiple academic publications.	7–11	West Bengal, urban; large government school	25% disadv.	Bangla
Nurjahan	7	MA in English; state teacher educator; active CPD; TA participant; presenter at national conferences.	5–10	Maharashtra, semi-urban; large government-aided school	35% disadv.	Marathi
Gajanan	20	MA in English; district teacher educator; active CPD; TA participant; presenter at national conferences.	8–10	Maharashtra, rural; small government-aided school	78% disadv.	Marathi

Note: ^aReal names are used; after participant validation, participants chose unanimously not to be anonymized (all other names in the study are pseudonyms). ^bBoth government and government-aided schools are free for students and non-selective in intake (Anderson and Lightfoot 2019). ^cSocio-economic status: disadv. = disadvantaged, based on official government designations for ‘reservation’ (Government of India 2020). ^dMore enabled language.

Table 2. Comparison of Teachers’ overall balance of languages used.

	Kuh.	Vin.	Nur.	Gaj.	Raj.	She.	Dip.	Man.	Mean
Average % of MEL	11%	12%	24%	25%	30%	47%	72%	85%	38%
Average % of LEL	89%	88%	76%	75%	70%	53%	28%	15%	62%

Note: Language use percentages were calculated as a proportion of total words uttered by the teacher in transcribed lessons (Shin, Dixon, and Choi 2020).

Figure 1. Teacher language balance by activity type.

Note: The choice of shades of grey in Figure 1 is symbolic, conveying the reality that almost no activity was conducted using one language only.

Table

Extract 1:Raju/Obs.19(Gr.7)/04:40(English/Telugu)
T: Eighteen?	T: Eighteen?
S1: Absent.	S1: Absent.
T: Entra, Shashi Vardhan regular, vachhe vaadu vastalledu?	T: What, Shashi Vardhan, the one who comes regularly is not coming?
S2: Go to village.	S2: Go to village.
T: Ah, he went to village? For, for what?	T: Ah, he went to village? For, for what?
S2: His grandmother.	S2: His grandmother.
T: His grandmother?	T: His grandmother?
S3: Marriage. Marriage!	S3: Marriage. Marriage!
T: His grandmother’s marriage? (students laugh)	T: His grandmother’s marriage? (students laugh)
S2: No, no!	S2: No, no!
S3: Marriage.	S3: Marriage.
T: Whose marriage?	T: Whose marriage?
S2: Chuttalu.	S2: Relatives.
S4: Sodari.	S4: Sister.
S1: Emantaaru?	S1: How do we say that?
T: Ah, his sister’s marriage.	T: Ah, his sister’s marriage.

Table

Extract 2: Gajanan/Obs.28(Gr.9)/28:30(English/Marathi)
S1: (reading out her answer) Students, playground, principal, book, education, teacher, study, library, classes, homework activities.	S1: (reading out her answer) Students, playground, principal, book, education, teacher, study, library, classes, homework activities.
T: Activities. Activities in the? (rising intonation)	T: Activities. Activities in the? (rising intonation)
S1: [inaudible]	S1: [inaudible]
T: Ha, activities. Kute aheta te?	T: Yes, activities. Where are they?
S1: Class, classroom.	S1: Class, classroom.
T: Classroom madhye. Fine, ha? You have done a very fantastic job! (smiles)	T: In the classroom. Fine, yes? You have done a very fantastic job! (smiles)

Figure 2. Multilingual boardwork.

Table

Extract 3: Nurjahan/Obs.19(Gr.8)/35:00(English/Marathi)
T: Spring mhanaje jhara. Spring, cha ek artha jhara? OK here, what does it mean? (pauses, no response) It springs, it comes out. Jhara, jhaara nahi, apan tya bhaji talayala vaparato to jhaara nahi! (students and teacher all laugh)	T: Spring means (fresh water) spring. Spring, what does a spring do? OK here, what does it mean? (pauses, no response) It springs, it comes out. Spring [झरा], not spatula [झारा], which you use to fry bhaji! (students and teacher all laugh)

Table

Extract 4: Dipika/Obs.28(Gr.10)/29:50(Hindi/English)
T: Ab ham letter likhte, class me. Kitne tarah ke letter likhte?	T: Now we write the letter, in class. How many types of letter do you write?
SS: Do.	SS: Two.
T: Do. Kaunse hota hai?	T: Two. Which ones?
SS: Formal aur informal.	SS: Formal and informal.
T: Formal aur informal. Dono ki language ek jaisi hoti hai kya?	T: Formal and informal. Do both have the same language?
SS: Nahi.	SS: No.
T: Nahi hoti. Formal me ham request, kindly words use karte, hai na?	T: No they don’t. In formal ones we use the words request, kindly, don’t we?

Table

Extract 5: Shekhar/Obs.21(Gr.10)/22:00(English/Marathi)
T: Pahila goal aahe, specific asla pahije goal. Pahili gosht, specific. Dusara aahe, area mhnje kshetra. Specific kshetrasathi asla pahije ani te tharavaycha ka bara? Improvement aaplyamadhye.	T: The first goal is to be specific. First thing specific. There is a second area, meaning area. The area should be specific and decide whether to make what? An improvement in yourself.

Table

Extract 6: Nurjahan/Obs.21(Gr.9)/21:50(English/Marathi)
T: Aish done? OK. Show me. Yes.(then to his neighbour) Gautam, tithe nahi shodhaych. Shevatche tin paragraph mhanelela. Sevatacya paragraph madhye uttar aahe ani ata tu laksa nahi dila apan bolatana. Aish, help him please. Don’t give your answers. Try, show him where to find. Kuthe shodhaych te dakhav tyala.	T: Aish done? OK. Show me. Yes.(then to his neighbour) Gautam, it’s not to be found there. I said the last three paragraphs. The answer is in the last paragraph, you were not paying attention while we were talking. Aish, help him please. Don’t give your answers. Try, show him where to find. Show him where to find.

Table

Extract 7: Gajanan/Obs.12/09:40(English/Marathi)
T: Haa Sandhya, come. (inviting S1 to front of class)	T: Yes Sandhya, come. (inviting S1 to front of class)
S1: Sir, Marathi?	S1: Sir, Marathi?
T: OK, Marathi, you can try in Marathi first of all. But briefly, Haa, thodkyat, thodkyat.	T: OK, Marathi, you can try in Marathi first of all. But briefly. Yes, briefly, briefly.

Table

Extract 8: Manjusha/Obs.11(Gr.9)/14:10(English/Hindi)
S1: (dictating to peer) Ingredients, likho re. (to another group) Eh! Cake ki mat karo!	S1: (dictating to peer) Ingredients, write it. (to another group) Hey! Don’t write about cake!
S2: (to teacher) Eh, madam, cake ki ham kar rahe, he na?	S2: (to teacher) Hey, madam, we’re doing cake, aren’t we?
T: (reassuring) Eh nahi na. Unki alag hai, tumhari alag hai.	T: (reassuring) No it isn’t. Theirs is different, yours is different.

Table

Extract 9: Vinay/Obs.20(Gr.7)/26:30(English/Telugu)
S1: (reading question) ‘Why did the country mouse go back to his house in the country?’	S1: (reading question) ‘Why did the country mouse go back to his house in the country?’
S2: Akkada place nachaka back poyindi.	S2: It doesn’t like that place so it went back.
S1: Geedane.	S1: Here only.
S2: Enduku enakku poyindi? Food gitla nachaka pothey back poyindi.	S2: Why did it go back? Food is also not good, that’s why it went back.
S1: Food kade gide ade. There was bread, gidi kadu idi kadu.	S1: Not food, not this one. There was bread, not that one.

Table

Extract 10: Kuheli/Obs.25(Gr.8)/24:30(English/Bangla)
S1: Na, tui ar likhisni ota.	S1: No, you don’t write that.
S2: Ki? Ami? So at last	S2: What? Me? So at last
S2: last month	S2: last month
S1: we decided	S1: we decided
S2: so last month. Dur baba! we have	S2: so last month. Oh come on! we have
S1: decided	S1: decided
S2: started	S2: started
S1: to go, decided to	S1: to go, decided to
S2: last month we went	S2: last month we went
S1: Na, we start korlam, we started to	S1: No, we start start, we started to
S2: to go for sea voyage in Indian Ocean. (writing) Tui onyo kichu lekh.	S2: to go for sea voyage in Indian Ocean. (writing) You write something else.

Figure 3. Student composition extract (monolingual).

Figure 4. Student multilingual annotations to English text.

Table

T	Teacher
S1	Student 1
S2	Student 2
SS	Students (two or more)
[झरा]	Non-Romanized text (e.g. Devanagari).

Anderson, J., and A. Lightfoot. 2019. The School Education System in India: An Overview. British Council. https://issuu.com/britishcouncilindia/docs/school_education_system_in_india_re.

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Government of India. 2020. National Education Policy 2020. Ministry of Human Resource Development. https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/NEP_Final_English_0.pdf.

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Shin, J., L. Q. Dixon, and Y. Choi. 2020. “An Updated Review on Use of L1 in Foreign Language Classrooms.” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 41 (5): 406–419. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2019.1684928.

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